From our colleague Peter Coleman, Professor of Psychology and Education at Columbia and the Director of Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution, (more on him here), we have a  request to help on some important empirical research.  It sounds like a great project–I already filled out the survey and encourage you to do so as well (great break from grading or rainy weekend blues!) The description and link are below:

Scholarship on cross-cultural conflict management has offered the distinction between more prescriptive versus ore elicitive approaches to intercultural conflict resolution training and intervention Lederach, 1995; Weller, Martin, & Lederach, 2001).More prescriptive approaches privilege the information and strategies introduced by a conflict resolution expert (negotiator, mediator, dialogue facilitator, instructor, etc.) and tend to be more expedient and efficient, while more elicitive approaches favor local contextual knowledge and processes for addressing conflict and peace, which tends to be more culturally-sensitive and sustainable. Currently, we are investigating the basic conditions conducive to using more elicitive versus more prescriptive approaches.  Our objectives are:

• • To identify the basic conditions conducive to more prescriptive versus elicitive approaches to cross-cultural conflict resolution and peace-building efforts.
  • To develop an assessment of cross-cultural adaptivity competencies for the professional development of conflict resolution practitioners.
  • To identify innovative strategies for optimally combining prescriptive and elicitive CR initiatives (hybrids, dual-process models, short-term/long-term strategies, etc.).This study will examine how professional conflict resolution specialists (negotiators, mediators, instructors, dialogue facilitators) work in cultural settings different from their own and navigate challenges posed by cross-cultural differences. After answering some questions about your background and training, you will be asked to reflect on the most recent cross-cultural conflict resolution intervention you conducted where you encountered cultural challenges related to the project. Then you will be asked to respond to several questions regarding this specific case. In order to participate in this study, please complete the online questionnaire by following the link below. https://tccolumbia.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6A54Cjv1Bw48IC1This survey will take about 30 minutes of your time, and will contribute considerably to the scientific development of our field. In addition, we will be happy to share the results of the study at the conclusion of our research and we will compensate you for your participation with a $10 Starbucks gift card. Thank you so much for your time and consideration.